HISTORY: (Marvel Super Heroes#377) - Transported across
the dimensional void by King Arthur, Captain Britain and Jackdaw arrived
on Earth-238 to find themselves in the middle of a bank robbery being carried
out by strangely clad crooks. The heroes appeared in the vault, and spotted
a clown, two men in top hat and tails and a tall man in armour standing in
the middle of a hole in the wall. With no doubt that he was facing criminals,
Captain Britain launched into the fight, and the clown, called Coco by one
of the tuxedo men, ordered the matched pair, the Conjurors, to attack. They
fired energy blasts from their walking sticks, throwing the hero back across
the room, but he rallied and raced towards them once more. While Jackdaw
distracted Coco, the Captain downed the twins, but the Jack of Hearts proved
to be made of stronger stuff, taking a blow from Captain Britain without
flinching, before striking back hard enough to send the hero flying out the
room.

Before he could rejoin the fray, Captain Britain was confronted
by the rest of the Gang - the leader Mad Jim Jaspers, the silent Executioner,
the squat and ugly Queen of Hearts, and a chuckling dwarf dressed as a school
boy (this is the counterpart of Earth 616's Tweedledope, but this incarnation
is never named). Informing the hero that he should not have interfered with
their robbery, Jaspers asked the Queen of Hearts what should be done with
the interloper, and she responded: "Orf wiv 'is 'ead!"

The Executioner moved forward to carry
out sentance with his huge axe, but was flung backwards out the window by
the hero testing out his new powers (Merlyn altered Captain Britain's powers
during the trip between dimensions) and expanding his forcefield violently.
As the hero leapt out after his opponent, Jaspers ordered the rest of the
gang outside in pursuit. The Conjurors took pot-shots at their high flying
antagonist, before Jaspers called the hero closer to the ground in an attempt
to parlay. However, this proved to be a ruse, allowing Mad Jim to throw an
exploding tea pot at Captain Britain. Jackdaw witnessed this and used his
mental powers to make the Conjurors drop their weapons. Though Jackdaw's
influence was broken within seconds by Tweedledope, it allowed the elf to
steal the twin's wand guns. The Crazy Gang pursued the elf, but were knocked
off their feet when Captain Britain hurled their ill gotten (and somewhat
heavy) gains at them.

The sound of approaching sirens signalled an end to the fight.
The Crazy Gang headed for their flying teapot under cover of a smoke bomb.
Informing Dormouse, the pilot, to make sure the police saw them so that they
would know who was behind the robbery, Jaspers and his gang vanished into
the night, leaving a bewildered pair of heroes behind them.

(Marvel Superheroes#387) - Some weeks later, as the world
became engulfed in reality-warping chaos and Captain Britain was losing a
battle with the hero-killing Fury, Mad Jim Jaspers arrived in the Crazy Gang's
Teapot Helicopter, and told the hero to climb aboard so he could learn why
the world had suddenly gone insane.

(Marvel Superheroes#388) - Captain Britain listened as Jaspers
explained that all the craziness on the Crooked World was down to him, a
superpowerful mutant able to warp reality with his mind, even as the interior
of the teapot warped, showing itself to contain a twisted world all in itself.
None of the other members of the Crazy Gang were visible during this exposition.
Eventually the weirdness overwhelmed Britain's senses, and he fled, falling
out of the helicopter into a superhero graveyard, his descent witnessed by
Dormouse as he continued to pilot the teapot.

(Daredevils#1) - Members of the Crazy Gang were amongst the
memories of the Crooked World prepared by Merlyn to be placed back into the
resurrected Captain Britain.

(Mighty World of Marvel#10) - In the full throws of the Earth
616 Jaspers' Warp, Captain Britain was temporarily made to believe that he
never left the Crooked World, and that he and his allies were under attack
by the Junkyard the Walked Like a Man, the Status Crew and the Crazy Gang,
most of the latter group riding in a flying tea cup.

COMMENTS: Created by David Thorpe, Paul Neary and Alan
Davis.

Just because the Crazy Gang of Earth 616 are all creations
of Jaspers' warped mind does not mean the Crazy Gang of this reality started
that way too. It's likely, but its also noticeable that several of the 238
versions seem smarter than their counterparts on 616.

In case it's not obvious, many of Jaspers' warped creations
are derived from Lewis Carol's "Through the Looking Glass," from which comes
"Alice in Wonderland."

Knave
of Hearts, a name used by Eros/Starfox while caught up in the reality
warp of Morgan le Fay, @ Avengers III#2

Queen of Hearts should be differentiated from:

Queen of Hearts, better known as the Red
Queen, her counterpart in Earth-616's Crazy Gang, @ Mighty World of
Marvel#11

Red Queen of the Hellfire Club-London, an
alias used by Margali Szardos, @ Excalibur I#97

Red Queen of Earth-998, an alternate Earth
counterpart of Jean Grey who posed as the reincarnation of that world's Madelyne
Pryor, and also served as the Madelyne Pryor seemingly reformed by Nate Grey
(X-Man) on his arrival on Earth-616, @ X-Man#5, 69

Red Queen of Earth-MC2, Hope Pym, of the
Revengers, the daughter of the alternate future counterparts of Hank Pym
and the Wasp,
@ A-Next#10, 12

Coco: This was the Earth 238 counterpart to 616's Jester. In this reality
he had a name (mentioned by one of the Conjurors) and was clearly one of
the smarter members of the gang (since he was seen to give some of the others
orders) He didn't display any powers or abilities in the handful of panels
he was in - the abilities he displays in Captain Britain's later hallucinations
don't count.

--MSH#377

Jack of
Hearts (Earth-238): Like most of the Earth-238 Crazy Gang, the Jack of
Hearts seemed more intelligent than his 616 counterpart, the Knave. Otherwise
he was very similar - tough enough to take a blow from Captain Britain without
even flinching, and strong enough to throw the hero across a room with a
single punch.

--MSH#377

The
Queen
of Hearts (Earth-238): As with her Earth 616 counterpart, the Red Queen,
the Queen of Hearts main function in the gang seemed to be to shout a lot.
Jaspers kept calling her darling; well, he is mad you know.

--MSH#377

The
Executioner (Earth-238): Tall, dark and silent, the Executioner's only
role in life was to try and decapitate people on order of the Queen. Captain
Britain threw him back through a window and he dropped a storey down the
side of the building. He wasn't seen again after that point, so perhaps this
injured him.

--MSH#377

Tweedledope (Earth-238): Never named, so I am assuming he shares the
same name as his 616 counterpart (not a certainty - Coco and the Jester being
proof of this). His function in the gang appeared to be to pour the tea and
chortle at whatever Jaspers said.

--MSH#377

The
Conjurors: A pair of identical men dressed in top hat and tails. They were
armed with wands that fire poweful energy bolts. Unlike most of the gang,
they have no known counterparts on 616.

Loki suggests that their names might be Seigfreid and Roy,
after the Las Vegas magical partners.

--MSH#377

Dormouse: The pilot of the flying
Teapot, the gang's bizarre getaway vehicle. Based on his non-human appearance
(and keeping in mind that the Fury would have killed any mutants years ago)
he was probably a creation of Jasper's mind.